pl^- 



P5 



J084 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



^S 2084 
T8 
Sopy 1 



^%^ 



No. 9. Five cents. 



Per Year, Fifty cents 




ot ( 



0^^ 

Xlttic 3ourne^0 \^ y ^ 

SERIES FOR 1896 

Xtttlc 5ournei26 to tbe Ibomea ot 
:american Butbors 

The papers below specified, were, with the 
exception of that contributed by the editor, 
Mr. Hubbard, originally issued by the late 
G. P. Putnam, in 1853, in a series entitled 
Homes of American Authors . It is now 
nearly half a century since this series (which 
won for itself at the time a very noteworthy 
prestige) was brought before the public ; and 
the present publishers feel that no apology is 
needed in presenting to a new generation of 
American readers papers of such distinctive 
biographical interest and literary value. 

No. 1, Emerson, by Geo. W. Curtis. 

*' 2, Bryant, by Caroline M. Kirkland. 

'* 3, Prescott, by Geo. S. Hillard. 

*• 4, Lowell, by Charles F. Briggs. 

*• 5, Simms, by Wm. Cullen Bryant. 

" 6, Walt Whitman, by Elbert Hubbard. 

•* 7, Hawthorne, by Geo. ^Vm. Curtis. 

** 8, Audubon, by Parke Godwin. 

** 9, Irving, by H. T. Tuckerman. 

** 10, Longfellow by Geo. Wm. Curtis. 

•• II, Everett, by Geo. S. Hillard. 

*' 12, Bancroft, by^eo. W, Greene. 

The above papers, which will form the 
series of Little Journeys for the year 1896, 
will be issued monthly, beginning January, 
in the same general style as the series of 
1895, at 50cts. a year. Single copies, 5 cts., 
postage paid. 

Entered at the Post Office, New Rochelle, N. Y., 
as second class matter 



Copyright, 1896, by 

G. P. Putnam's sons 

27 A 29 West 23D Street, New York 
24 Bedford Street, Strand, London • 

The Knickerbocker Press, New Rochelle, N. Y. 



IRVING 



265 



I swear to thee, worthy reader, if report belie 
not this warrior, I would give all the money in 
my pocket to have seen him accoutred cap-a-pie, 
in martial array— booted to the middle— sashed 
to the chin— collared to the ears— whiskered to 
the teeth — crowned with an overshadowing 
cocked hat, and girded with a leathern belt ten 
inches broad, from which trailed a falchion, of a 
length that I dare not mention. 

A History of New York. 



266 



IRVING. 



BY H. T. TUCKKRMAN.* 



THE) similarity of the landscape in 
different portions of the country, 
is often mentioned as a defect in 
our scenery ; but it has the advantage of 
constantly affording an epitome of nature 
and an identity of suggestion favorable 
to national associations. Without the 
-wild beauty of the Ohio or the luxuriant 
vegetation of the Mississippi, the Hudson 
thus preserves a certain verisimilitude in 
the form of its banks, the windings of its 
channel, and the hills and trees along its 
shores, essentially American. The re- 

* Written in 1853 for Putnam's Homes ofAmeri^ 
can Authors, 

267 



Htving 

flective observer can easily find in these 
characteristic features, and in the details 
of the panorama that meets his eye, even 
during a rapid transit, tokens of all that 
is peculiar and endeared in the condition 
and history of his native land ; and it is 
therefore not less gratifying to his sense 
of the appropriate than his feeling for the 
beautiful, that the home of our favorite 
author should consecrate the scene. 

To realize how the Hudson thus iden- 
tifies itself with national associations, 
while scanning the details we must bear 
in mind the general relations of the noble 
river, — the great metropolis toward which 
it speeds ; the isle-gemmed bay and ad- 
jacent ocean ; and then, reverting to the 
chain of inland seas with which it is 
linked, and the junction of its grandest 
elevations with the vast range of the 
Alleghanies that intersect the boundless 
West, recall the intricate network of iron 
whereby the most distant village that 
nestles at their feet is connected with its 
picturesque shores. Thus regarded as a 
268 



vital part of a sublime whole, the Hudson 
fills the imagination with grandeur while 
it fascinates the eye with loveliness. 
A few miles from the shores, and in 
many instances on the highest ranges of 
hills, gleam isolated lakes, fringed with 
woods and dotted with small islands, 
whence azalea blossoms and feathery 
shrubs overhang the water, which is pel- 
lucid as crystal, in summer decked with 
lilies, in winter afifording inexhaustible 
quarries of ice, and, at all seasons, the 
most romantic haunts for the lover of 
nature. Nor is this comprehensive aspect 
confined to the river's natural adjuncts. 
The immediate localities are equally sig- 
nificant. 

On the Jersey shore, which meets 
the gaze at the very commencement of 
the upward voyage, are visible the grove 
where Hamilton fell — the most affect- 
ing incident in our political annals ; and 
the heights of Weehawken, celebrated by 
the muse of Halleck ; soon, on the op- 
posite shore, we descry the evergreen foli- 
269 



Htving 

age of Trinity Church Cemetery, beneath 
which lie the remains of that brave explor- 
er of the forest and lover of the winged 
tribes of the land — Audubon ; now rise the 
Palisades — nearer landmarks of the bold 
stand first taken by the colonists against 
British oppression, where Fort Washing- 
ton was captured by the Hessians in 
1776 ; and whence the enemy's vessels 
of war were so adroitly frightened away 
by Talbot's fire-ship, and the most perse- 
cuted martyrs of the Revolution were 
borne to the infamous prison-ship at 
I/ong Island. This wonderful range of 
columnar rock, varying in height from 
fifty to five hundred feet, and extending 
along the river to the distance of twenty 
miles, rises perpendicular from the water, 
and the channel often runs immediately 
at its base. The gray, indented sides of 
this natural rampart, its summit tufted 
with thickets and a few fishers' huts 
nestled at its foot, resemble the ancient 
walls of an impregnable fortress ; here 
and there the traces of a wood-slide mark 
270 



its weather-stained face ; and in the still- 
ness of a winter day, when the frozen 
water collected in its apertures expands 
in the sunshine, from the outer side of 
the river may be distinctly heard the 
clang of the falling trap-rock dissevered 
from the mass. Opposite are seen the 
variegated hills and dales of Westchester 
County. There let us pause, in the neigh- 
borhood of our author's residence, to 
view the familiar scene amid which he 
lives. Gaze from beneath any of the 
porticos that hospitably offer shelter on 
the hillsides and at the river's marge, 
breathe the pure air, and contemplate the 
fresh tints of a June morning. In this 
vicinity the river expands to the width of 
two or three miles, forming what is called 
Tappan Bay — which, seen from the sur- 
rounding eminences, appears like an im- 
mense lake ; picturesque undulations 
limit the view, meadows covered with 
luxuriant grain that waves gracefully in 
the breeze, emerald with turf, dark with 
copses, or alive with tasselled maize, al- 
271 



tern ate with clumps of forest-trees or 
cheerful orchards. Over this scene of 
rural prosperity flit gorgeous clouds 
through a firmament of pale azure, and 
around it wind roads that seem to lure 
the spectator into the beautiful glens of 
the neighboring valleys. Nearer to his 
eye are patches of woodland, overhang- 
ing ravines where rock, foliage, and 
stream combine to form a romantic and 
sequestered retreat, invaded by no sound 
but that of rustling leaf, chirping bird, 
humming insect, or snapping chestnut- 
burr ; parallel with these delicious nooks 
that usually overhang the river, are fields 
in the highest state of cultivation sur- 
rounding elegant mansions ; but farther 
inland stretch pastures where the mullein 
grows undisturbed, stone walls and va- 
grant fences divide fallow acres, the sweet- 
briar clambering over their rugged 
surface, clumps of elder-bushes or a few 
willows clustered about the pond, and 
the red cones of the sumac, dead leaves, 
brown mushrooms, and downy thistles, 
272 



Hiving 

mark one of those neglected yet wildly 
rural spots which Crabbe loved to de- 
scribe. Bven here at the sunset hour 
we have but to turn towards the river, at 
some elevated point, and a scene of inde- 
scribable beauty is exhibited. The placid 
water is tinted with amber, hues of trans- 
cendent brightness glow along the west- 
ern horizon, fleecy masses of vapor are 
illumined with exquisite shades of color ; 
deep scintillations of rose or purple kin- 
dle the edges of the clouds ; the zenith 
wears a crystalline tone ; the vesper star 
twinkles with a bright though softened 
ray ; and the peace of heaven seems to 
descend upon the transparent wave and 
the balmy air. And if we observe the 
immediate scene around one of the hum- 
ble red-roofed homesteads or superior 
dwellings, which are scattered over the 
hillsides and valleys of this region, and 
call back the vision from its widest to the 
most narrow range, the eye is not less gra- 
tified, nor the heart less moved, by images 
of rustic comfort and beauty. Perhaps a 
.273 



•ffrving 

large tulip- tree, with its broad expanse of 
verdure and waving chalices, or a superb 
chestnut, plumed with feathery blossoms, 
lends its graceful shade, while we follow 
the darting swallow, watch the contented 
kine, or curiously note the humming- 
bird poised, like a fragment of the rain- 
bow, over a woodbine wreathed about the 
porch, and mark the downy bee clinging 
to the mealy stamen of the hollyhock, or 
murmuring on the pink globe of the 
clover. The odor of the hay-field, the 
glancing of coimtless white sails far be- 
low, the flitting of shadows, and the re- 
freshing breeze — all unite to form a picture 
of tranquil delight. 

Resuming our course, after such an 
interlude, we pass the scene of the gal- 
lant and unfortunate Andre's capture 
and execution. Stony Point, where 
another fierce struggle for our liberties 
occurred, the site of the fortification 
being marked by a lighthouse, the tower- 
ing Dunderberg mountain, and that 
lofty promontory called Anthony's Nose, 
274 



where a sudden turn of the river in a 
western direction all at once ushers us 
into the glorious Highlands. The house 
once occupied by the traitor Arnold is 
soon forgotten in the thought of Kos- 
ciusko, whose monument rises on the 
precipitous bank at West Point ; and here 
the wild umbrage that covers Cro'nest 
recalls Drake's fanciful poem ; and old 
Fort Putnam, crowning the highest of 
the majestic hills, seems waiting for 
the moonbeams to clothe its ruins with 
enchantment ; Buttermilk Fall glimmers 
on one side, while the proud summit of 
the Grand Sachem towers on the other. 
Then opens the bay of Newburgh, a 
town memorable as the spot where the 
mutinous letters of the Revolution were 
dated, and where the headquarters and 
parting scene of Washington and his 
officers are consecrated to endeared re- 
membrance. Beyond appear the most 
beautiful domains in the land, where 
broad ranges of meadow and groups of 
noble trees, in the highest state of order 
275 



and fertility, transport us in fancy to the 
rural life of Kngland. The last great fea- 
ture of this matchless panorama is the 
Kaatskill Mountains rising in their misty 
shrouds, or, in a clear atmosphere, stretch- 
ing away in magnificent proportions, 
whence the eye may wander for sixty 
miles over a country mapped by prolific 
acres, with every shade of verdure — sub- 
limated, as it were, by interminable 
ranges of mountain, and animated by the 
silvery windings of the Hudson, whose 
gleaming tide lends brilliancy to the 
more dense hues of tree, field, and um- 
brageous headland. 

The navigable extent of the river, and 
the fresh tints of its water, banks, and 
sky, are in remarkable contrast with 
those celebrated transatlantic streams 
endeared to our imagination. To an 
American the first view of the Tiber and 
the Seine, their turbid waters and flat 
shores, occasions peculiar disappoint- 
ment ; and it is the associations of the 
Rhine and Lake Como, and those feat- 
276 



ures they derived from art, which chiefly 
gave them superiority. The mellow 
light of the past and the charm of an. 
historical name, invest the ruined castles 
and famed localities of their shores with 
an enduring interest. 

In the spirit of hearty enthusiasm, not 
less than local attachment, does Irving 
thank God he was born on the banks of the 
Hudson ; for it possesses all the elements 
requisite to inspire the fancy and attach 
the heart. The blue waving line of its 
distant hills in the twilight of the early 
dawn ; the splendid hues of its surround- 
ing foliage in autumn ; the glassy expanse 
of its broad surface, and the ermin^ 
drapery of its majestic promontories in 
winter; the scene of verdant luxury it 
presents in summer ; its sheltered nooks, 
pebbly coves and rocky bluffs ; the echoes 
of the lofty Highlands, and the balmy 
hush of evening, when the saffron-tinted 
water reflects each passing sail, and the 
cry of the whippoorwill or monotone 
of the katydid, are the only sounds of 
277 



life — all utter a mysterious appeal to the 
senses and imagination. 

Washington Irving, although so obvi- 
ously adapted by natural endowments 
for the career in which he has acquired 
such eminence, was educated, like many 
other men of letters, for the legal profes- 
sion ; he, however, early abandoned the 
idea of practice at the bar for the more 
lucrative vocation of a merchant. His 
brothers were established in business in 
the city of New York, and invited him 
to take an interest in their house, with 
the understanding that his literary tastes 
should be gratified by abundant leisure, 
iJQie unfortunate crisis in mercantile af- 
fairs that followed the peace of 1815, in- 
volved his family, and threw him upon 
his own resources for subsistence. To 
this apparent disaster is owing his subse- 
quent devotion to literature. The strong 
bias of his own nature, however, had 
already indicated this destiny ; his inapti- 
tude for affairs, his sensibility to the 
beautiful, his native humor, and the love 
278 



he early exhibited for wandering, observ- 
ing, and indulging in day-dreams, would 
infallibly have led him to record his fan- 
cies and feelings. Indeed, he had already 
done so with effect, in a series of letters 
which appeared in a newspaper of which 
his brother was editor. His tendency to 
a free, meditative, and adventurous life, 
was confirmed by a visit to Europe in his 
early youth. 

Bom in the city of New York, on the 
3d of April, 1783, he pursued his studies, 
his rambles, and his occasional pen-craft 
there, until 1804, when ill health made 
it expedient for him to go abroad. He 
sailed for Bordeaux, and thence roamed 
over the most beautiful portions of 
Southern Europe ; visited Switzerland 
and Holland, sojourned in Paris, and 
returned home in 1806. During his ab- 
sence he seriously entertained the idea 
of becoming a painter ; but subsequently 
resumed his law studies, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar. Soon after, however, 
the first number of Salmagundi ap- 
279 



peared, an era in our literary annals ; 
and in December, 1809, was published 
Knickerbocker's History of New York, 
He afterwards edited the Analectic 
Magazine, In the autumn of 1814 he 
joined the military staff of the Governor 
of New York, as aide-de-camp and sec- 
retary, with the title of Colonel. At the 
close of the war he embarked for Liver- 
pool, with a view of making a second 
tour in Europe ; but the financial trou- 
bles intervening, and the remarkable 
success which had attended his literary 
enterprises, being an encouragement to 
pursue a vocation which necessity, not 
less than taste, now urged him to follow, 
he embarked in the career of authorship. 
|The papers which were published under 
the title of The Sketch-Book^ at once 
gained him the sympathy and admiration 
of his contemporaries. They originally 
appeared in New York, but attracted im- 
mediate attention in England, and were 
republished there in 1820. After residing 
there five years, Mr. Irving again visited 
280 



Htving 

Paris, and returned to bring out Brace- 
bridge Hall in London, in May, 1822. 
The next winter he passed in Dresden, 
and in the following spring put Tales of 
a Traveller to press. He soon after went 
to Madrid and wrote the Life of Colum- 
bus y which appeared in 1828. In the 
spring of that year he visited the South 
of Spain, and the result was the Chroni- 
cles of the Conquest of Granada^ which 
was published in 1829. The same year 
he revisited that region, and collected 
the materials for his Alhambra, He was 
soon after appointed Secretary of Lega- 
tion to the American Embassy in London, 
which office he held until the return 
of Mr. McLane in 1831. 

While in England he received one 
of the fifty-guinea gold medals, pro- 
vided by George IV., for eminence in 
historical composition, and the degree 
of LL.D. from the University of Oxford. 
His return to New York in 1832 was 
greeted by a festival, at which were 
gathered his surviving friends and all the 
281 



Htving 



characterized by Lowell in the Fable for 

Critics : 

What ! Irving ? Thrice welcome, warm heart 
and fine brain, 

You bring back the happiest spirit from Spain, 

And the gravest sweet humor, that ever were 
there 

Since Cervantes met death in his gentle de- 
spair ; 

Nay, don't be embarrassed, nor look so be- 
seeching, 

I shan't run directly against my own preach- 
ing, 

And having just laughed at their Raphaels and 
Dantes, 

Go to setting you up beside matchless Cer- 
vantes ; 

But allow me to speak what I honestly feel, 

To a true poet-heart add the fun of Dick Steele, 

Throw in all of Addison, minus the chill, 

"With the whole of that partnership's stock and 
good-will. 

Mix well, and while stirring, hum o'er as a 
spell. 

The *fine old English Gentleman,' simmer it 
well, 

Sweeten just to your own private liking, then 
strain. 

That only the finest and clearest remain. 

I/Ct it stand out of doors till a soul it receives 

From the warm lazy sun loitering down 
through gfreen leaves, 

And you *11 find a choice nature not wholly 
deserving 

A name either English or Yankee— just Ir- 
ving. 

284 



The eminent success which has at- 
tended the late republication of Irving' s 
works, teaches a lesson that we hope will 
not be lost on the cultivators of litera- 
ture. It proves a truth which all men of 
enlightened taste intuitively feel, but 
which is constantly forgotten by perverse 
aspirants for literary fame ; and that is 
— ^the permanent value of a direct, simple 
and natural style. It is not only the 
genial philosophy, the humane spirit, the 
humor and pathos of Irving, which en- 
dear his writings and secure for them 
an habitual interest, but it is the refresh- 
ment afforded by a recurrence to the 
unalloyed, unaffected, clear, and flowing 
style in which he invariably expresses 
himself. 

The place which our author holds in 
national affection can never be super- 
seded. His name is indissolubly asso- 
ciated with the dawn of our recognized 
literary culture. We have always re- 
garded his popularity in England as one 
of the most charming traits of his reputa- 
285 



ntvim 

tion, and that, too, for the very reasons 
which narrow critics once assigned as de- 
rogatory to his national spirit. His treat- 
ment of Bnglish subjects ; the felicitous 
manner in which he revealed the life of 
our ancestral land to us, her prosperous 
offspring, mingled as it was with vivid 
pictures of our own scenery, touched a 
cord in the heart which responds to all 
that is generous in sympathy and noble 
in association. If we regard Irving with 
national pride and affection, it is partly 
on account of his cosmopolitan tone of 
mind — a quality, among others, in which 
he greatly resembles Goldsmith. It is, 
indeed, worthy of a true American writer 
that, with his own country and a partic- 
ular region thereof as a nucleus of his 
sentiment, he can see and feel the char- 
acteristic and the beautiful, not only in 
old Bngland, but in romantic Spain ; 
that the phlegmatic Dutchman and the 
mercurial southern Buropean find an 
equal place in his comprehensive glance. 
To range from the local wit of Salma- 
286 



Hrving 

gundi to the grand and serious historical 
enterprise which achieved a classic Life 
of Columbus y and from the simple grief 
embalmed in the '* Widow's Son '* to the 
observant humor of ^* The Stout Gentle- 
man/' bespeaks not only an artist of 
exquisite and versatile skill, but a man 
of the most liberal heart and catholic 
taste. 

Reputations, in their degree and kind, 
are as legitimate subjects of taste as less 
abstract things, — and in that of Wash- 
ington Irving there is a completeness and 
unity seldom realized. It accords, in its 
unchallenged purity, with the harmoni- 
ous character of the author and the se- 
rene attractions of his home. By temper- 
ament and cast of mind he was ordained 
to be a gentle minister at the altar of lit- 
erature, an interpreter of the latent music 
of nature and the redeeming affections of 
humanity ; and, with a consistency not 
less dictated by good sense than true 
feeling, he has distinctively adhered to 
the sphere he was especially gifted to 
287 



adorn. Since his advent as a writer, an 
intense style has come into vogue ; glow- 
ing rhetoric, bold verbal tactics, and a 
more powerful exercise of thought charac- 
terize many of the popular authors of the 
day. But in literature as in life, there 
are various provinces both of utility and 
taste ; and in this country and age a 
conservative tone, a reliance on the 
kindly emotions, and the refined percep- 
tions, are qualities eminently desirable. 
Therefore as we look forth upon the calm 
and picturesque landscape that environs 
him, we are content that no fierce po- 
lemic, visionary philanthropist, or mor- 
bid sentimentalist has thus linked his 
name with the tranquil beauties of the 
scene ; but that it is the home of an au- 
thor who, with graceful diction and an 
afiectionate heart, celebrates the scenic 
charms of the outward world and the 
harmless eccentricities and natural senti- 
ment of the race. The true bias of Ir- 
ving^s genius is artistic. The lights and 
shadows of English life, the legendary 
288 



litving 

romance of Spain, the novelties of a tour 
on the Prairies of the West, and of adven- 
tures in the Rocky Mountains, the poetic 
beauty of the Alhambra, the memories 
of Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey, the 
quaint and comfortable philosophy of 
the Dutch colonists, and the scenery of 
the Hudson, are themes upon which he 
expatiates with the grace and zest of a 
master. His affinity of style with the 
classic British essayists, served not only 
as an invaluable precedent in view of the 
crude mode of expression prevalent half 
a century ago among us, but also proved 
a bond in letters between our own coun- 
try and England, by recalling the iden- 
tity of language and domestic life, at a 
time when great asperity of feeling divi- 
ded the two countries. 

The circumstances of our daily life and 
the impulse of our national destiny, am- 
ply insure the circulation of progressive 
and practical ideas ; but there is little in 
either to sustain a wholesome attachment 
to the past, or inspire disinterested feel- 
289 



ings and imaginative recreation. Ac- 
cordingly we rejoice that our literary 
pioneer is not only an artist of the beau- 
tiful, but one whose pencil is dipped in 
the mellow tints of legendary lore, who 
infuses the element of repose and the 
sportiveness of fancy into his creations, 
and thus yields genuine refreshment and 
a needed lesson to the fevered minds of 
his countrymen. Of all his immortal 
pictures, however, the most precious to 
his countrymen is that which contains 
the house of old Baltus Van Tassel, 
especially since it has been refitted and 
ornamented by Geoffrey Crayon ; and 
pleasant as it is to their imagination as 
Wolfert's Roost, it is far more dear to 
their hearts as Sunnyside. 

And the legends which he has so grace- 
fully woven around every striking point 
in the scene, readily assimilate with its 
character, whether they breathe gro- 
tesque humor, harmless superstition, or 
pensive sentiment. We smile habitually 
and with the same zest, at the idea of the 
290 



Trumpeter's rubicund proboscis, the val- 
iant defence of Beam Island, and the 
figure which the pedagogue cuts on the 
dorsal ridge of old Gunpowder; and, 
inhaling the magnetic atmosphere of 
Sleepy Hollow, we easily give credit to 
the apparition of the Headless Horse- 
man, and have no desire to repudiate the 
frisking imps of the DuyvePs Dans Ka- 
mer. The buxom charms of Katrina 
Van Tassel, and the substantial comforts 
of her paternal farmhouse, are as tempt- 
ing to us as they once were to the unfor- 
tunate Ichabod and the successful Brom 
Bones. 

The mansion of this prosperous and 
valiant family, so often celebrated in 
his writings, is the residence of Wash- 
ington Irving. It is approached by a se- 
questered road, which enhances the effect 
of its natural beauty. A more tranquil 
and protected abode, nestled in the lap 
of nature, never captivated a poet's eye. 
Rising from the bank of the river, which 
a strip of woodland alone intercepts, it 
291 



Hvving 

unites every rural charm to the most 
complete seclusion. From this interest- 
ing domain is visible the broad surface 
of the Tappan Zee ; the grounds slope to 
the water's edge, and are bordered by 
wooded ravines ; a clear brook ripples 
near, and several neat paths lead to shad- 
owy walks or fine points of river scenery. 
The house itself is a graceful combination 
of the English cottage and the Dutch 
farmhouse. The crow-stepped gables, 
the tiles in the hall, and the weather- 
cocks, partake of the latter character ; 
while the white walls gleaming through 
the trees, the smooth and verdant turf, 
and the mantling vines of ivy and clam- 
bering roses, suggest the former. In- 
deed, in this delightful homestead are 
tokens of all that is most characteristic 
of its owner. The simplicity and rustic 
grace of the abode indicate an unper- 
verted taste, — ^its secluded position a love 
of veiled pictures of English country-life ; 
the weathercock that used to veer about 
on the Stadthouse of Amsterdam, is a 
292 



Hvving 

symbol of the fatherland ; while the one 
that adorned the grand dwellings in Al- 
bany before the Revolution, is a signifi- 
cant memorial of the old Dutch colonists ; 
and they are thus both associated with 
the fragrant memory of that famous and 
unique historian, Diedrich Knicker- 
bocker. The quaint and the beautiful 
are thus blended, and the effect of the 
whole is singularly harmonious. From 
the quietude of this retreat are obtaina- 
ble the most extensive prospects ; and 
while its sheltered position breathes the 
very air of domestic repose, the scenery 
it commands is eloquent of broad and 
generous sympathies. 

Not less rare than beautiful is the lot of 
the author to whom it is permitted to 
gather up the memorials of his fame and 
witness their permanent recognition, — 
the first partial favor of his contemporaries 
renewed by the mature appreciation of 
another generation ; and equally gratify- 
ing is the coincidence of such a noble 
satisfaction with a return to the cher- 
293 



ished and picturesque haunts of child- 
hood and youth. It is a phase of life 
scarcely less delightful to contemplate 
than to enjoy ; and we agree with a na- 
tive artist who declares that in his many 
trips up and down the Hudson, he never 
passed Sunnyside without a thrill of 
pleasure. Nor, if thus interesting even 
as an object in the landscape, is it diffi- 
cult to imagine what moral attractions it 
possesses to the kindred and friends who 
there habitually enjoy such genial com- 
panionship and frank hospitality. To 
this favored spot, around which his 
fondest reminiscences hovered during a 
long absence, Mr. Irving returned a few 
years since, crowned with the purest lit- 
erary renown, and as much attached to 
his native scenery as when he wandered 
there in the holiday reveries of boyhood. 
And here, in the midst of a landscape his 
pen has made attractive in both hemi- 
spheres, and of friends whose love sur- 
passes the highest need of fame, he lives 
in daily view of scenes thrice endeared — 
294 



Vvving 

by taste, association, and habit — ^theold 
locust that blossoms on the green bank 
in spring, the brook that sparkles along 
the grass, the peaked turret and vine- 
covered wall of that modest yet tradi- 
tional dwelling, the favorite valley 
watered by the romantic Pocantico, and, 
above all, the glorious river of his heart. 
We are strongly tempted to record 
some of the charming anecdotes which 
fall from his lips in the hour of genial 
companionship ; to revert to the details 
of his personal career ; the remarkable 
coincidences by which he became a spec- 
tator of some of the most noted occur- 
rences of the last half-century ; — his 
personal intercourse with the gifted and 
renowned of both hemispheres ; the fond 
admiration manifested by his countrymen 
in making his name familiar as a house- 
hold word, on their ships and steamers, 
their schools, hotels, and townships ; the 
beautiful feattures of his domestic life ; the 
affectionate reverence with which he is 
regarded by his relatives and his immedi- 
295 



ITrving 

ate friends and neighbors ; the refined yet 
joyous tone of his truly **Sunnyside" 
hospitalities, so charmingly enlivened by 
his humorous and historical reminis- 
cences. But two considerations warn us 
from these seductive topics — the one a 
cherished hope that the reminiscences 
thus briefly alluded to may yet be gath- 
ered up in his own hand ; the other our 
knowledge of his delicacy of feeling and 
sensitive habit in regard to personalities. 
In a letter to the editor of the Knicker- 
bocker Magazine^ Mr. Irving, under the 
character of Geofirey Crayon, gives an 
account of his purchase of the Van Tas- 
sel estate, now called ** Sunnyside," and 
a characteristic description of the neigh- 
borhood, which abounds in some of the 
happiest touches of his style. This let- 
ter was a commencement of a series of 
articles published in the Knickerbocker^ 
which, excepting his Life of Goldsmith^ 
are the last of his published writings. 



296 



LITTLE JOURNEYS 

TO THE HOMES 
OF GOOD MEN AND GREAT 



SERIES FOR 189s, 



Each number treats of recent visits made 
by Mr. Elbert Hubbard to the homes and 
haunts of various eminent persons. The 
subjects for the first twelve numbers are as 
follows : 

I. George Eliot. 2. Thomas Car- 
LYLE. 3. John Ruskin. 4. W. E. Glad- 
stone, 5. J. M. W. Turner. 6. Jonathan 
Sv^iFT. 7. Victor Hugo. 8. Wm. Words- 
worth. 9. W. M. Thackeray, id. 
Charles Dickens. ii. Oliver Gold- 
smith. 12. Shakespeare. 

Per number, 5 cents. Per set, 50 cents. 

The series of 12 numbers in one volume is 
illustrated with twelve portraits, some of 
which are in photogravure. i6mo, printed 
on deckel-edge paper, cloth bound, gilt tops, 

$1.75. 

*' The series is well conceived and excellently sus- 
tained. The most captious critic could not suggest 
an improvement. Never was there more satisfactory 
packing, in more attractive shape, of matter worth at 
least ten times the money.'* — Bujff^alo Commercial. 

•* The series is particularly interesting, and it seems 
to us that no one could write more delightfully of 
authors and their homes than docs Mr. Hubbard.'* — 
Boston Tim.es. 

"The publishers have succeeded in placing this 
volume of * Little Journeys ' typographically amon^ 
the beautiful books of the day. It is a lovely speci- 
men of the printers' art." — San Francisco Call, 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 



The Philistine : 

A Periodical of Protest. 



• • • Would to God my name were 
Not so terrible to the enem.y as it is ! 

Henry VIII, 



Printed Every Little While for 
the Society of The Philistines 
and Published by Them Monthly. 
Subscription, One Dollar Yearly ; 
Single Copies lO cents. 

The Philistine and Little Journeys, one 
year, One Dollar. 



*'/^ is very handsome and very sassy ^ 

— Boston Herald, 

^It is deliciously impudent,^'' 

— Rochester Herald, 

^^It offers a most protnising sign^^ 

— Neiv York Tribune, 



The Philistine is calculated to lay the dust of con- 
vention and drive out the miasma of degeneracy, and 
while assailing the old gods may, in due time, rear 
new ones to the delight of the healthy populace. 

THE PHILISTINE, 
East Aurora, New York. 



BOOKS FOR THE COUNTRY 



Landscape Gardening. 

Notes and Suggestions on Lawns and 
Lawn-Planting, Laying Out and Arrange- 
ment of Country Places, Large and Small 
Plots, Deciduous and Evergreen Trees 
and Shrubs. — By Samuel Parsons, Jr., 
Superintendent of Parks, New York City. 
Large 8°, with nearly 200 illustrations 

$3 50 
The Trees of Northeastern America. 
By Charles S. Newhall. With an In- 
troductory Note by Nath. L. Britton. 
With illustrations made from tracings of 
the leaves of the various trees. 8° $2 50 

The Leaf-Collector's Handbook 

and Herbarium. By Charles S. New- 
hall. An aid in the preservation and in 
the classification of specimen leaves of the 
trees of Northeastern America. Illustra- 
ted . $2 00 

The Shrubs of Northeastern America, 
By Charles S. Newhall, author of 
**The Trees of Northeastern America," 
Fully illustrated. Large 8° $2 50 

The Wild Flowers of the N. E. States. 

Being Three Hundred and Eight Indi- 
viduals Common to the Northeastern 
United States. Drawn and described 
from life. By Ellen Miller and Mar- 
garet C. Whiting. Quarto, cloth. 
With frontispiece in colors . $4 50 net 



THE COMPLETE WORKS OF 

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER 

MOHAWK EDITION 



To be completed in 32 volumes, large 
i2mo, handsomely printed, with illustrations, 
and substantially bound. 

The Mohawk Edition will range in ap- 
pearance with the Hudson Edition of Irving's 
Works, and the volumes will be sold either 
separately or in sets. Broken sets can, there- 
fore, always be made good. 

Price, per Volume, $1.25. 

The Mohawk Edition will comprise the 
complete works as follows : 



Section I. Comprises ; 
The Deerslayer 
Last of the Mohicans 
^ The Pathfinder 
The Pioneers 
The Prairie 
^TheSpy 



Section II. Comprises: 
The Pilot 
Red Rover 
Wing and Wing 
The Water-Witch 
The Two Admirals 
The Sea-Lions 



Precaution 
Lionel Lincoln 
Homeward Bound 
Home as Found 
Mercedes of Castile 
The Redskins 
The Chainbearer 
Satanstoe 
The Crater 
Wyandotte 



Afloat and Ashore 

Wept of Wish-ton- Wish 

The Bravo 

The Hidenmauer 

The Headsman 

The Monikins 

Miles Wallingford 

Jack Tier 

Oak Openings 

The Ways of the Hour 

The two sections in brackets are now ready. 
Other sections will follow at brief inter- 
vals, until the set is completed. 



a. p. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London 



HEROES OF THE NATIONS 

>♦< 

A series of biographical studies of the lives 
and work of certain representative historical 
characters, about whom have gathered the 
great traditions of the Nations to which they 
belonged, and who have been accepted, in 
many instances, as types of the several Na- 
tional ideals. Edited by Evelyn Abbott, 
M.A., Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. 
The volumes are sold separately. 

Cloth extra, full illustrated . , . $1,50 
Half leather, uncut edges, gilt top, 1.75 

1. Nelson. By W. Clark Russell. 

2. GustavUS AdolphuS. By C. R. L. Fletcher. 

3. Pericles. By Evelyn Abbott. 

4. TheodorlC the Goth. By Thomas Hodgkm. 

5. Sir Philip Sidney. By H. R. Fox-Boume. 

6. Julius CsBSar. By W. Warde Fowler. 
7* Wyclif. By Lewis Sergeant. 

8. Napoleon. By W. O'Connor Morris. 

9- Henry of Navarre. By p. f. wiiiert. 

10. Cicero. By J. L. Strachan Davidson. 

11. Henry the Navigator. By c. r. Beaziey. 

12. Abraham Lincoln. By Noah Brooks. 

13- Julian the Philosopher. By Alice Gardner. 

14. Louis XIV. By Arthur Hassall. 

15. Charles XII. By R. Nisbet Bain. 

16. LorenZOde' Medici. By Edward Armstrong. 

17- Jeanne d'Arc, Her Life and Death. 

By Mrs. M. O. W. Oliphant. 

18. Christopher Columbus. By Washington 

Irving. 

><s>< 

For Sale by all Booksellers. 
Oe P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London 




015 971 336 2 

RECENT FICTION 

A KING AND A FEW DUKES. 

A Romance. By Robert W. Chambers, author of 
" The King in VeUow," "The Red Republic," etc. 
8M1.25. 

THE RED REPUBLIC. 

A Romance of the Commune. By Robert W. 
Chambers, author of ** The King in Yellow," etc. 
12°, ornamental cover, $1.25. 

*' Wonderfully vivid and graphic.*'— iV. V. Press. 

*' Dramatic, stirring, and full of adventure."— i?/(^a/£» £x' 
^ress. ■ 

" Mr. Chambers can do what few men can do, he can tell a 
story."— A^. y. ^otirnal. 

THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 

By RoDRiGUES Ottolengui, author of *'An Artist 
in Crime," etc. (No. 12 in the Hudson Library.) 
12", $1.00 ; paper, 50c, 

•• It is a tribute to the author's skill that he never loses a 
reader. For fertility in imagining a complex plot, and hold- 
ing the reader in ignorance of its solution until the very end, 
we know of no one who can rival him." — Toledo Blade. 

THE THINGS THAT MATTER. 

By Francis Gribble, author of " The Red Spell," 
etc. (No. 13 in the Hudson Library.) 12°, $1.00; 
paper, 50c. 

"A very amusing novel full of bright satire directed against 
the New Woman, and similar objects. . . . The descriptions 
of life in genteel Bohemia of West Kensington are particularly 
clever. . . . The story contains sketches of literary men 
and women of which we can only say that if they are not 
drawn from life, they ought to have been." — London Speaker, 

THE HEART OF LIFE. 
A Novel. By W. H. Mallock, author of *'A Ro- 
mance of the Nineteenth Century," *' The New 
Republic," "The New Paul and Virginia," "A 
Human Document," etc. (No. 14 in the Hudson 
Library.) 12°, $1,25 ; paper, 50c. 

•' Interesting, sometimes tender, and uniformly brilliant. 
. , . There area variety of brilliant threads interwoven with 
the plot. . . . The most successful creation which Mr. 
Mallock has given us. . . . Extraordinary brilliance and 
cleverness. "—Z)a«/y Telegraph. 

THE BROKEN RING. 

By Elizabeth Knight Tompkins, author of *' Her 
Majesty," *'An Unlessoned Girl," etc. (No. 15 in 
the Hudson Library.) 12*', $1.00 ; paper, 50c. 

For Sale by all Booksellers. 
Q. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London 



;:ic: 



■ in 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

Jiiiiiiiii ^ 

015 971 336 2 ^ 



